Has NBA commissioner David Stern become Public Enemy No. 1 in Southern California?

Think about it. The Lakers unquestionably are the most popular sports team in the Southland, which encompasses Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

That assures Stern will be booed for perpetuity by all locals — except giddy Clippers fans, of course — after The Little Dictator first killed a proposed trade that would have brought New Orleans point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers and then approved the trade that brought Paul to the Clippers, the other Staples Center co-tenant.

Technically, Stern had the power to do what he did, because the NBA purchased and took control of the Hornets franchise a year ago, but that also means there was an inherent conflict of interest in his deciding Paul’s destination.

But here’s why Stern felt compelled to kill the Lakers trade, in my opinion. Given that NBA owners had just locked out players to try to improve competitive balance throughout the league, theoretically making it more difficult for star players to force a trade to the team of their choice, how could he allow the Lakers to get better on the day owners ratified the new collective bargaining agreement?

It’s unclear if he bowed to pressure from small-market owners such as Cleveland’s Dan Gilbert, as rumored, after word of the impending Paul-to-Lakers trade leaked. It’s also possible a few owners threatened not to ratify the CBA if the trade went through.

But if Stern signed off on a Paul trade to a historically weak franchise — and who better fits that description than the long-downtrodden Clippers? — how could small-market teams complain about that?

Even so, the commish cinched his villain status in Southern California as well as in Houston, which was hoping to get Pau Gasol in the three-team trade that Stern nixed, simply by telling the Lakers no. That will never change.

Interestingly, Stern was already unpopular in Orange County for strong-arming the Maloofs into agreeing to keep the Sacramento Kings in the state capital another season when they were on the verge of filing for relocation after seven months of negotiations with Honda Center officials.

No one knows where that saga is going to end, but Stern’s image and perhaps legacy have taken a beating in recent months.

Maybe it’s a good thing that Stern, 69, probably is getting closer to retiring from his role as omnipotent czar of the NBA.

This much is certain: Don’t ever invite Stern to a future Lakers party or event, because there won’t be enough boos to go around.

Clippers vs. Lakers: It’s easy for Clippers fans to get excited and assume Donald Sterling’s mercenaries suddenly are a better team than the Lakers. After all, a team with Paul, Blake Griffin, Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups is dramatically improved from last year’s team.

In addition, the Lakers, as presently constituted, probably aren’t as good as a year ago without Lamar Odom. And in a lockout-compressed season, in which everybody has to play 66 games in a 120-day span, the Clippers’ young legs should be fresher at season’s end than the aging Lakers’.

But let’s not get carried away yet. The Lakers still have Kobe Bryant, Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Let’s see how well the Clippers play together before we decide there’s a new No. 1 team at Staples.

What can’t be argued is that the acquisition of Paul is a watershed event in Clippers history, because a star player actually wanted to play for them. It was doubly important, because if the team is successful in the next couple of seasons, Griffin and Paul might actually want to remain in L.A. when their contracts are up. We shall see.

Carey dies: Former New York Yankees third baseman Andy Carey, who was in the lineup the day Don Larsen pitched his perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series, died Wednesday night in Newport Beach. He was 80.

And you could say Larsen wouldn’t have achieved history without Carey, who fielded a Jackie Robinson ground ball leading off the second inning and threw him out. Carey also singled and scored a run in the Yankees’ 2-0 victory in that historic game.

Top headline: From SportsPickle.com, an online site specializing in satire: “Upcoming opponents pretty excited to see how they’ll lose to Tim Tebow.”

Ba-da-bing! From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “Think St. Louisans might be feeling fleeced by Anaheim? The Angels have slugger Albert Pujols, and St. Louis has the 2-11 Rams.”